Rangers post loss for 2012

Rangers have posted a loss for the last seven months of 2012, earnings data showed on Monday, but the club — wound up, relaunched and demoted to Scottish football’s bottom tier — said it was pleased with the results.

The Glasgow giants said in a statement on their website rangers.co.uk that losses were 7.1 million pounds ($10.7 million 8.7 million euros) in the last seven months of 2012 to December 31.

Overall revenue was at 9.5 million pounds and operating expenses at 16.6 million pounds.

Cash reserves to the end of last year were 21.2 million, largely due to the 22.2 million in capital raised after the club listed on the London Stock Exchange in December.

Rangers chief executive Charles Green said the results covered a “significant period in the club’s history in which vital steps were taken to ensure the survival and rebuilding of one of the UK’s most venerable football institutions”.

Priority has been given to stabilising the club and putting in place “solid financial foundations for the future”, he added.

Rangers, Scotland’s most successful club, were expelled from the Scottish Premier League because of financial problems that saw the company liquidated last year and relaunched under new ownership.

The “new” Rangers were still demoted to the Third Division — the fourth and lowest tear of Scottish professional football — before the start of the current season.

The club is currently top of the division and still pulled in an average of 45,363 fans for home games until the turn of the year — the fifth-highest attendance in British football, Rangers’ statement said.

Gers also said that season ticket sales stood at 38,000 for the period and signed a number of new sponsorship deals, which along with further reductions in operating costs, would also help put finances on a stronger footing.